A’Ibom Gov Tribunal: Attah, Etiebet, INEC Girl Shock PDP, Udom Emmanuel's lawyers

Former Akwa Ibom governor, Obong Victor Attah, APC governorship candidate, Umana Okon Umana leaving the court room yesterday

By Iboro Otongaran

Today (29 July, 2015) marked a major watershed at the Akwa Ibom State governorship election petition tribunal sitting at FCT High Court, Abuja.
The day’s session began with a back-breaking testimony by Atuekong Don Etiebet, former minister of petroleum resources, against Udom Emmanuel of the PDP, INEC and the PDP.
Etiebet told the tribunal that elections did not hold according to law on 11 April 2015 in Oruk Anam local council area where he comes from. He testified to massive irregularities, including but not limited to ballot snatching, absence of ballot materials at polling units, and violence.
He tendered four material evidence, namely, his voter’s card, his press statement condemning the sham elections, newspaper publication of the press statement and a video recording of his visit along with other leaders of the state to INEC head office in Uyo on the night of the election to see whether there was state collation of the ballot as should be the case. He said during the visit they found the INEC head office in total darkness with no work going on and the INEC REC Austin Okojie nowhere to be found on election night when the INEC head office ought to be a beehive of activities. Yet the following Sunday morning, announced the result of the “election” and declared Udom Emmanuel winner.
His voter’s card, video recording, and press statement were accepted as exhibits, but the newspaper reports of his press statement were rejected on the ground that the newspapers that carried the report were not registered with the national library as required by law. The legal team of Umana/APC at the tribunal said the rejection of the newspaper accounts of Etiebet’s press statement was of no legal significance since they were derivatives of the original press statement that had itself been accepted by the tribunal.
The next witness was HE Obong Victor Attah, former governor of Akwa Ibom State and leader of the Ibibio. Attah tendered his PVC to prove that he was a registered voter but could not vote because elections did not hold in his town; he also tendered video recordings and testified orally to the effect that elections did not hold according to law in Ibesikpo Asutan local council area where he comes from. Both were accepted in evidence and marked as exhibits.
The super star witness for Umana/APC today was an NYSC INEC ad hoc staff member, an Ibo lady, who told the tribunal how PDP thugs invaded the unit where she served in Mbiabong, Uyo and carted away election materials allocated to the polling unit. She said the hoodlums arrived in vehicles with arms, shouting and hailing the PDP and grabbed the ballot materials under her watch. When she resisted them, she said, they beat her up, tore up her clothing and threatened to send her to the wheel chair for life. She said it was one of the good Nigerians who witnessed the attack that brought his jacket to cover her near nakedness. She added that she and her colleagues at the unit had to run for their lives.
She tendered the clothing as evidence, which was accepted and marked as exhibit.